Improvement in preserve and other cans



, UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

JULIEN 'ROUSSEL, LAUREN-'1 DELANGRE, AND LUGIEN ROBIN, ohm-MES. FRANCE.

IMPRO EMENT IN PRESERVE AND OTHER CANS.

Specification i'orniing part of Letters Patent No. 43,463, dated July 5, 1 864.

' serve-(Jens and other Articles lVIauufactnred ofTiu, and thatwehaveobtained LettersP-atent on said improvement in France on the 30th day of September, 1863; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The nature of our invention consists in a process for the production of indelible lettering'and designs and non=oxidizahle colored' surfaces upon sh eettin or tinned sheet-iron by a combination of lithographic or plate print ing and the action of heat upon the surface of tin and upon the metallic colors printed on such surface of tin.-

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to def scribe our invention'and its application.

Our invention has been originally and is chiefly designed for preservecans made of sheet-tin, and is to serve as a substitute for the present mode of labeling the preservecans and of coating them with color.

Labels naming the contents of the cans,- (meat, vegetables, fruit, or whatever it may be,) and name and address ofmanufacturer, &c., are now made either of paper or of cop-. per plates. These plates or other labels are liable to become detached. from the cans by the wear to which they are frequently exposed. Besides, the paper is apt to become wet and be destroyed and the copper to. become oxi-.

dized and covered with verdigris, (especially during protracted sea-voyages so that the lettering orgiually contained on the labels can no longer be discerned. In allthese cases the result is that one knows ,no longer what the contents of the cansarennless they be opened.

The cans as manufactured at present are frequently covered with a coat of color puton by the usual mode of painting, in order to protect them from oxidation and other injury.

Such a coat of wear ofl. Our invention is designed to obviate the paint, however, is subject to said detects of the manufacture. of preserve cans heretofore in use.

We prepare a lithographic stone in the usualwayiorlithogrnphicprinting. Thcstone is to boot a suitable size/t0 correspond to a plate of sheet-tin large enough to cut a cer-' tain number'of strips of sliect-tin't'rom for the manufacture of an equal number of cans. Metallic paint of an desired color is then applied to the surface of the stone by means of a lithographic roller in the usual manner, so as to cover the whole surface of the stone with;

color. The plate of sheet'tinis then placed upon the colored surface of the stone in the same manner. A sheet of paperis placed" on the stone in the usual process of lithographic printing, and the stone,with the plate thereon, is then run through the lithographic press, after which the color will be imprinted upon the surface of the sheet-tin. The process of printing is intended to substitute the mode of paintingthe cans heretofore ,in use.

Another stone of the same size as the stone above mentioned having beenprepared for lithographic printlng,and the-lettering or designs which are to appear on the surface of the cans in place of the labels having been lithographed'on the stone in the usual manner, metallic paint (of a color different from thatwith which the sheet-tin has been covered) is put on to beldivided into strips, each intended to form the body of one can. 1 The plate of sheet tin, i

covered with a coatofcolor as above described, is then placedupon the stone, (the colored sur- 1 face in contact with the lithographed face of the stone,) and the stone,w-ith the plate there on, is then run through the lithographic press,

after which the lettering err-designs will appear imprinted. upon the colored surface of the sheet-tin. v l. If it is desired to haveonly the lettering or design, (which shall serve the objectof a label,)

and no coat of color on the surface of the cans, v the process of printing first described is of course dispensed with and the second pro cess of. printing only adhered to.

Aftera-nu mber ofplatesofsheet-tin have been thus printed they are placed in a properly-constructed furnace-chamber, where they are exposed to the gradual action of a ten'iperature sufficiently high to slightly a'nalganiat-e the colors printed on the sheet-tin plates with the surface of the latter. Any person can easily ascertain the proper degree of temperature required by institutinga few experiments, (l uring which the plates are to be very slowly heated, and from time to time to be inspected until the amalgamation required takes place. \Ve prefer to construct a series of revolving tables, (revolving around a horizontal axis,) 'npon which the plates are placed within the furnace-chamber, In this manner all the plates are exposed to an equal amount of heat, although the chamber, may he hotter where itis in (life-rt contact with thetire.. After the plates have been taken out and become cold the lettering, designs, or coat of color will be found to be strongly united with the surface of the plates, and, in t'act,with the body of them, so asto be indelible. The plates will then be cut into as many strips as there are designs or sets of lettering on each plate, and the strips will then be manufactured into cans.

In this manner cans may be provided withindelible labels and indelible coats of color, if desired. 1

The manufacture of cans thus labeled and coated with color is considerably cheaper and takes up much less time than themanut'acture of cans upon the plan heretofore in use.

It will be understood that in the manner above described any style of chromo-lithographic printing maybe adapted to the purposes herein stated as Well as typographic printing and also printing from engraved plates.

The process herein described maybe applied to the manufacture of sheet-tin labels for other articles (not only for preserve-cans) and to various other manufactures of metal.

Having described our invention, What we claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isp The above-described process for the production of indelible lettering, designs, and colored surfaces upon sheet-tin or tinned sheet-iron by a combination of lithographicor plate. printing and the action ot' heat upon the surface of tin and upon the metallic colors printed on such surface of tin.

' JULIEN ROUSSEL.

LAURENT DELANGRE. LUOIENROBIN.

\Vitnesses FRANCOIS GAILLAND, HENRI (Jr-mus. 

